Topic: patents

Future iPhones and iPads could move Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor from the device's home button to the display itself, allowing a more seamless and potentially dynamic way for a device to securely authenticate a user.

Apple's interest in indoor positioning technology could go well beyond just identifying a user's location, by offering estimated wait times at a variety of businesses, allowing iPhone users to adjust their schedules and save time by avoiding high-traffic periods of the day.

As recent rumors have suggested Apple could offer a simple stylus to enhance a larger iPad model, a new patent application shows what kind of improved pen-based input technology the company has been working on behind the scenes.

It could soon be more difficult to fool Genius Bar employees into servicing an iPhone or iPad under warranty after it has been carelessly dropped by the user, even without physical damage, as Apple has won a patent for embedding sensors into devices' cover glass to record strain on the part from twists and drops.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple's patent for an iPhone gaming accessory that extends in-game controls beyond the handset's display and onto D-pads or joysticks, saving precious screen real estate in the process.

Future iPads could come with even fewer physical buttons, as Apple is evaluating new ways to show contextually relevant information and allow quick access to device controls based on the position of the iPad's Smart Cover, according to a patent application published Thursday by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application for an iCloud-based fingerprint storage and cross-device syncing solution, a system that could do away with manual Touch ID setup and power next-generation Apple Pay-enabled POS terminals.

Apple was awarded 2,003 patents in 2014 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, making "impressive gains" and inching closer to the top 10 companies receiving credit for intellectual property inventions.

Apple on Tuesday was granted a U.S. patent for a portable device made almost exclusively from flexible components, allowing for force-based gesture input and perhaps larger displays that fold up like a trifold wallet.

Rockstar Consortium -- the patent holding firm created by Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, Microsoft, and Sony to purchase thousands of foundational telecom patents from now-defunct Nortel -- looks set to wind down operations after the partners agreed to sell much of Rockstar's patent portfolio to IP risk mitigation company RPX.

Apple on Tuesday was awarded a patent for displaying media streams on portable devices in synchronization with content being played back on a fixed system, suggesting the company is thinking of remote viewing capabilities for its Apple TV line of products.

Apple has shown interest in combining the use of its Touch ID fingerprint sensor with rotating or moving a user's fingertip in specific ways, offering even more advanced security on future iPhones and iPads.

Apple on Tuesday was assigned patent rights to a projection-based 3D mapping solution won from its acquisition of Israeli company PrimeSense, suggesting the company is moving forward on development of advanced body gesture control for Mac, Apple TV and possibly iOS.

A pair of patent filings uncovered on Thursday reveal what could be Apple's answer to mass transit mapping, a highly requested feature since Google Maps was replaced in iOS by the first-party Apple Maps in 2012.

Apple on Tuesday was awarded a patent covering a futuristic iPhone protection system that can recognize when a phone is dropped, calculate an estimated point of impact and shift its center of gravity to avoid striking sensitive components.